Leader of Bath Tory party removed from B&NES Council meeting for 'swearing at Cabinet member'
The incident reportedly took place in last night's Virtual 'informal' Special meeting
Last updated 27th Jan 2022
The leader of Bath's Conservative party was kicked out of a council meeting for reportedly swearing at a Cabinet member.
Bath & North East Somerset's (B&NES) Liberal Democrats said it happened during an announcement of 'unprecedented investment' being made in the region's transport.
Their full statement on Twitter said: "A B&NES Conservative councillor was removed from a Cabinet meeting this evening for swearing at a Cabinet member during her announcement of unprecedented investment in transport throughout the region. The Conservative leader swore rather than support.
"At a time when we want to be kind, we deplore swearing in a meeting like this. But we accept that the local Conservatives must be under pressure having to defend their Westminster masters rather than work for local communities."
Bath & North East Somerset Council
The MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, described it as 'unacceptable behaviour'.
But the opposition have called the Lib Dems 'shameful' following the incident and said that they 'banned residents from speaking' at the meeting.
Fighting back on Twitter, Bath Conservatives said the treatment of their leader - Cllr Vic Pritchard - was 'disgraceful':
"Rude, aggressive, arrogant, dismissive.
"It simple strengthens our determination to get rid of these people. They shame Bath."
Bath Conservatives
The Leader of B&NES Council, Kevin Guy, defended the decision to remove the leader of the opposition from the meeting. He said: "Cllr Prichard was evicted by council officers for swearing at a female cabinet member. I can not believe you are defending such appalling actions. A new low for local Tories."
Cllr Manda Rigby, Cabinet Member for Transport, responded to the allegations made by the Conservatives, saying that they did not ban residents:
"As a single issue extra meeting, statements had to be on that items only.
"We threw no one out in a pique, Cllr Pritchard was removed by an officer for interrupting a speech by shouting a swear word."
The Virtual 'Informal' Special meeting took place yesterday (Wednesday 26 January) at 6.30pm.